Homily delivered by Cardinal Tagle during Chrism Mass

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, mga kapatid sa Panginoong Hesukristo, first of all, we give praise and thanks to God, he brought us together, he called us to be one Church, one community of disciples, one community of faith.

And we unite ourselves with the other local particular communities gathered in their own cathedrals and churches for this beautiful ceremony. At the same time, we unite ourselves with people who have no beautiful buildings where they could gather, our thoughts go to our brothers and sisters in Marawi, in Jolo. And just this morning,d I receive an email from Paris, the Archbishop was calling on his flock to still gather, to still celebrate the Chrism Mass not in Notre Dame but in another church.

Ang our gathering was made special by your presence, baptized, confirmed and consecrated men and women, thank you for coming. Salamat din po sa ating mga kapatid na pari, both the diocesan and the religious.

And you might be wondering who are those other priests? Well, they are Jubilarians – 25 years, 50 years, 60 years and 65 years of priestly service.

But we are not the ones consecrated, the ordained. We call this the Chrism Mass. We will bless the oils. Chrism-used for baptism, confirmation and ordination and the oils for the anointing of the sick. Hndi lang po yung mga inordinang pari ang pinahiran ng langis at ng espiritu santo lahat ng binyagan, lahat ng binyagan ay pinahiran ng langis at napuspus ng espiritu santo.

This is the Year of the Youth and during the Synod of Bishops on the Youth, Pope Francis called on the whole church to walk together. He said, it is an experience of Synodality – Synodus – walking together on the same path, walking together.

Walking together with the young people, walking together for the sake of the young people and today on this Chrism Mass we celebrate our common consecration as anointed by the Holy Spirit.

In the first reading, it is the whole people that have been made priests of the Lord, ministers of our God, the whole community filled with the Holy Spirit, the whole community is set aside for the service of God consecrated.

And in the vision of Saint John in the second reading from Revelation these people, these people even in paradise will continue to be a kingdom, priests for God and the Father, consecrated to give glory to God and not only for the sake of the youth but for the sake of our service of God and humanity.

We come together anointed by the spirit with our different gifts. Let us come together as a consecrated people, as a people set apart, as a priestly people, and we ordained are called to serve the priestly people to awaken the priestly consecration of all the baptized. That is our ministry, not to take over and say ‘we are the only priests’, we belong to the common priesthood the common consecration of the baptized and the ministers as ministers we served the awakening, the blossoming of that consecration.

In a little while, we, the ordained will renew our commitment as ordained that on Easter Vigil, on Easter Sunday all the baptized will renew our promises as consecrated to God and to God’s people. And for the sake of the youth, let us awaken again that consecration in the spirit like Jesus our head and with him let us accept again the gift and the responsibility of being anointed by the spirit. And like Jesus reading and fulfilling the Prophet Isaiah’s words, ‘we also anointed by the spirit should go and bring glad tidings to the poor, especially the youth’.

So, many young people never hear good news they only hear criticism. They only hear their incapacity to meet the expectations, expectations which are not realistic.

We are consecrated anointed by the Spirit. Parents, teachers, peers go live your consecration. Proclaim Good News. Ang dami dami na, na tagapagdala ng bad news, fake news, hate speech. We, today all the consecrated, all the baptized bearing the Holy Spirit will say ‘I will not deliver fake news, hates speech, I am consecrated by the spirit, I will bring good news to the poor and the suffering’.

Those consecrated by the spirit will proclaim liberty to captives, those consecrated by the spirit will not lead others to further captivity and imprisonment and enslavement. Ang dami dami pong iba’t ibang uri ng pagkabihag, ng pagkapreso at kawawa ang ating mga kabataan hindi nila alam sila ay napipreso na, naaalipin na.

Our imprisonments are very subtle that’s why the spirit is given to us. The spirit of wisdom and discernment in order to detect, am I still free for God? Or am I already imprisoned by many so-called signs of progress?

We are consecrated by the Spirit. We are not to participate in the further enslavement and captivity of people especially the young. The Holy Spirit sends us to proclaim liberty, not enslavement. We are sent as consecrated people to proclaim liberty to the oppressed and not add to their oppression. As consecrated by the spirit, we are sent to give recovery to the blind and not add to the blindness that is already enveloping the world especially of the young.

Ang pinupuspus ng espiritu santo, nagiging daan hindi ng pagkabulag kundi ng paglinaw ng isip at mata at puso katulad ni Hesus puspus ng espiritu santo ang kanyang katawan. Ang sambayanan ng mga sumusunod sa kanya ay gagawin din lalo na para sa ating kabataan, ang hinihingi ng ating Panginoon for the sake of the young and for the sake of all of us let us not waste our common consecration. And I beg our brother priests, we who have been called and consecrated to minister to the body of Christ, let us evoke from them, let us nurture that consecration that is in them.

Sabi nga lalo na ngayon panahong transparency and accountability and that is good, we want to be accountable in the way we use the resources of the church, the property of the church, the finances of the church, the administration of the goods of the church that is important huwag lang nating kalilimutan, the most precious resource of the church are the gifts of the spirit in the community. Are they blooming? Are they bearing fruit? Are they becoming mis-service and missionary acts of baptized and consecrated people?

And so together ordained, baptized, confirmed for the sake of the youth, for the sake of the poor, for the sake of the oppressed, for the sake of those who are kept blind, let us say together “the spirit of the Lord is upon me, he has anointed me and so, I go together synodus – working together”.